To You, With Love

 I watched a good old classic movie recently, To Sir with Love, (1967) starring one of my all-time favorite actors, the late Sidney Poitier. He was a recent graduate who couldn't get an engineering job, forced to take a teaching position in a London school for unruly students. He handled them with grace, dignity, class, and the occasional rare loss of temper, all of which earned him the respect and eventual love of all the students and staff. 

In trying to reason with two angry young men, he told one young man, "Yes, I'm sure that IS the way you see it." He then turned to the other young man and said, "And I'm sure that's the way YOU see it." The one boy blurted back, "Is there ANY other way to see it??" He simply responded, "Well, I guess you'll have to find out for yourselves." 

He asked the boy ,who out of self-justified anger, had attacked a male teacher, "Were you acting like an adult when you did that?" The boy then couldn't justify his behavior because the question was suddenly turned to HIS behavior instead of how angry he was about what the teacher had done. Suddenly he was convicted. He knew he was wrong, even though he was still angry about what the teacher had done. Both things became true for him. The teacher was wrong, but so was he, and he was responsible for HIS own wrong reaction, not the actions of the teacher. 

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 16:25

I thought about how both of these and many situations in the movie applied today. In so many situations over the last two years, going on three, there has been so much anger and blame. So much, "The way I see it", "The way you see it", and no possible way that there is "any other way to see it." Will we ever find out for ourselves if we keep to our own ways of thinking? No. When we get stuck in our own thinking, we can get pretty trapped. We start to believe our own lies to ourselves when we say them enough times, because being wrong takes us down a road that is frightening and unknown. If we're wrong about what we believe, then that changes everything! But as these students began to see, the changes they began to make opened up their hearts to become more loving people. 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 

Isaiah 55:8 

Will we ever see the consequences of our own behavior when we are constantly looking at the wrongs of those who "made us" do what we did or say what we said? Can we correct what we don't acknowledge? There are a lot of "disruptive students" in the world right now, trying to ruin it for those who are peaceful, for sure. It is the student who makes the correction that learns from his mistake. The person who extends grace is the one who learns that not all people will choose to correct their mistakes.

Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. Isaiah 13:11

Like Sidney's character stated, "I believe one should fight for what one believes. Provided one is absolutely sure one is absolutely right." Have we been absolutely sure we are absolutely right about what we are fighting for or do we just believe it to be right? There is a difference.  As I've said before, and it's an unpopular opinion, sometimes our human beliefs are strong, but w-r-o-n-g. There may be a few facts blended into the smoothie, but when you really shake it down, it's not enough to make it actual truth. We have to be careful that what we are fighting for is actually worth fighting for, and not just right-fighting for because it's the "way we see it." We can't change the division in the world by standing on our own side, pointing a stern finger at the other side in judgment. I am hopeful that people actually want to bridge that gap, and not just pull people over to their "side." Maybe I'm just an idealist. 

I can tell you with absolute certainty that I don't know what I am "right" about as it pertains to the world and its events. People are fickle, and we cannot put our faith in politics or any one person or people. I don't know what is going to happen in my own life from one minute to the next, how could I predict what's going to happen anywhere? Yet people talk as if they have a crystal ball somewhere. How do they know? It's clear that no one knows the right answers to everything.  We cannot claim to love and honor God and others while we are defacing people, property, and spewing hatred and nonsense. That's not wisdom. That's not intelligent. That's not humble or peaceful. It's ugly and foolish, and my eyes and ears shrivel at the sight and sounds of it. May our mouths do the same. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Philippians 4:8

 No matter what the world looks like or what my own life is going through, I can trust that God is not surprised, nor is He without a plan. If anything, the more out of control the world seems, the more I trust that God knows more than anyone ever will about my future. Why would I trust anyone with my life other than the one who created it? If we love and trust God, we have to hold ourselves to His standards. We have to trust what He says and be who He says we are. 

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.  1 Corinthians 1:30 

"Is there any other way to see it?" "I guess you'll have to find out for yourselves." The young teacher was urging them to see it right then and there, but they couldn't just yet. What will it take for us, for the world, for whoever in your life that is still stuck, to "see it?" There are some things we just have to learn for ourselves, and boy, those lessons have been hard these last couple of years if we've been open to learning them. 

I believe that you can't trust who you don't know personally. If you don't know who God is, why would you put your faith there? In the same way, if you don't know a public figure, why would you put your trust there?  Why are people so quick to trust someone they don't even know to the point of fighting their friends and family over them? It's a real headscratcher. Humans are fickle and well, human. We all are subject to temptation and mistakes and all kinds of good and bad deeds. We can be the fool or the fooled. The good news is, we have the ability to know many things about God by reading about the things He did and the character of who He is. God never changes. He is always the same. If you are saved, you have within you the Holy Spirit, which resides within you, and an added benefit of knowing the Lord and how He moves within you. 

People will always let us down, no matter how well we may think we know them. If we put our faith and our trust in people, we can be guaranteed to be disappointed every time. But if we put our trust in God, we will always be secure. Like Sidney's character teaching real-life skills to unruly students, God is the Teacher who reminds us that we are never alone in this big messed up world. 

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33